Speechless
by VelmaGirl
Summary: PRFJ. RJ/Fran. For as often as Fran doesn't filter what comes out of her mouth, she finally finds herself left speechless.


Title: Speechless (One-Shot)

Rating: K+

Pairing: RJ/Fran

Summary: For as often as Fran doesn't filter what comes out of her mouth, she finally finds herself left speechless.

Warning: FLUFF. Lots. Prepare for a toothache, or maybe a little sickness to the stomach like when you gorge on too much cotton candy.

Author's Note: I'm not going to lie. I don't know what I think of this. It's been months since I've written *anything*. At all. Beyond that, I wrote this between the hours of 10 PM and 1 AM, and I can't guarantee that it's flawlessly proofed. To sum all of this up, please be nice?

* * *

**Speechless**

She wondered occasionally, even more often than that, perhaps a little more than sometimes, why she stuck around the way she did. Fran considered herself one of the last people likely to hang out with the Power Rangers, but she was sitting at the counter at Jungle Karma Pizza where the three Power Rangers of Ocean Bluff stood in the room with her, below their headquarters (which also doubled as one of the coolest lofts she had ever seen...not that she'd really seen all that many lofts in her day. Still, it was amazing)

'Breathe, Fran.' She'd heard it a million times already, but even in her head, Fran's thoughts wouldn't slow down. Maybe she'd absorbed too many words as a child because she'd torn furiously through so many books over the years, and now, she had so many to say that she tripped over herself trying to get them all out. She knew they only meant well, but she did wish that for once, she could just let it all out. She wished that someone would listen, just once.

Lost in her thoughts, Fran failed to notice that the dinner rush had hit, until Lily snapped her out of her reverie.

"Fran, some help would be nice!" Lily from across the pizza parlor, as she was serving a group of rambunctious kids in the corner booth by the jukebox. Immediately, Fran scrambled out of her chair.

By the time the rush had passed, Fran found herself back in her seat at the counter, staring into space and left with her thoughts again.

Fran had stumbled into Jungle Karma and eventually found herself part of a family. Once upon a time, it had just been her favorite pizza joint. Now, it became her home. (Not in the sense that she lived there like the rangers did, but she was more likely to be found there than at her small apartment a few blocks over.) They'd grown closer, taking the time to bond, especially after they defeated Dai Shi.

It became tradition amongst the employees of JKP that every Friday was the officially unofficial movie night. Closing the shop at the end of the night, they remained in the kitchen as they worked on inventing new pizzas. Really, RJ just presented to the four of them the ideas he'd come upon over the course of the previous week, and if any sounded like they could have some potential, they would test them out while watching a movie in the loft.

RJ still staked his claim on his arm chair. The rangers and Fran (who had really been given the title of honorary ranger, much to her delight) sprawled out on the floor around the chair facing the TV, with the pizza of the week in the middle of them all.

Looking at her watch, Fran realized that they would be closing soon, and then movie night would begin. She got up to sweep the floors one more time and hummed a little tune to herself as she did so. The others must've been in the kitchen, cleaning up the flour, dough, and tomato sauce, as well as the ovens. Fran kept humming to herself happily, and soon, her broom became her dance partner as she waltzed (or at least attempted it) across the room.

In the middle of the dance, Fran tripped over a chair leg, flopping to the ground in a particularly klutzy manner. Her broom clattered to the ground, and Fran let out something between a groan and a wheeze as she had the breath knocked out of her on the tile floor. Amonst the crash, the door from the kitchen opened, and RJ came out to see his employee sprawled on the floor with her glasses askew.

She began to brush herself off, and RJ started to help her up. She grabbed the hand he offered and pulled herself back up to her feet. She bent down to pick up her broom, but RJ stopped her.

"Be careful, Fran." he said with his hands on her shoulders. She bent her head down and blushed.

"I know, RJ. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" she started to speak, but RJ interrupted her.

"It's okay, Fran. I just want you to be careful. What am I supposed to do around here without you if you hurt yourself working? I didn't put anything about worker's compensation in the contract."

"Won't happen again." She wished she hadn't done it again. She was always dropping things, running into objects, and Fran wishes that she didn't. It felt sometimes like she did more hurt than help around the JKP, with all the disasters she could cause.

"What's wrong, Fran? You don't seem very chill, well, for you even not chill. What's up?" RJ probed.

Fran just shook her head a little bit as a tear threatened to fall onto her petite cheek. Her lip started to tremble, and Fran stared at her feet. The image of the floor started to blur around the edges.

"It's nothing" she shook her head in frustration. RJ gave her that Master look, the same one that he gave the rangers when he knew they were lying. There was no reason to bother RJ with her insecurities when she already did enough to hinder his business.

"Fran, come one, you can trust me with anything. Like you said, you've been through the good and the bad with me. You're also the one who said to go running towards friends instead of away from them."

Of course he would use her own words against her.

"I'm a total disaster, RJ. I can't keep it together at all, and all I'm doing is ruining things." she wailed. RJ looked at the girl standing in front of him with her eyes scrunched up and her face red and tears pouring down her cheeks from underneath her glasses because of an irrational insecurity.

"That is so far from the truth, Fran. We could do without you around here. You're...you're like the glue that bonds us all together by a love of pizza!"

RJ was trying to be funny, and Fran tried to stop the tears and believe him. It didn't console her much because she didn't truly believe him. It was just like RJ to act a little cheesy and silly just to cheer her up. It was one of the reasons she kept coming back to JKP after the first time. He was always good like that. He was so calm and relaxed, and being around people like that was a good thing to help her own frantic behavior, she reasoned. Fran mustered the best brave face she could, and started to apologize.

"I'm s-"

"Don't apologize, Fran, It's what I'm here for." he smiled, with the slight worry that had in his eyes fading back to the calm twinkle that lived there. He hooked his arm around her neck, and they walked back into the kitchen with Fran tucked safely under his arm, still a little ruffled and red-faced.

The pizzas of the night were all utter failures, and after they grimaced at every single one of RJ's...creative ideas, they made a collective decision to grab a bag of pita chips and some hummus from the pantry upstairs in the loft, hoping RJ would have something by next week.

The movie was one they'd all seen before, and after a busy day downstairs, all of them were out before the ending credits rolled. RJ woke up a little past midnight with a crick in his neck. As much as he loved his chair, he didn't usually sleep there, and it didn't do his neck any favors. He padded barefoot towards the kitchen to grab a glass of water and head for bed, but he found Fran awake, sitting criss cross in the middle of the training mat. Her fingers traced patterns on the cushioned mat, and stared intently at the opposite wall, looking frustrated and confused.

"Fran?" RJ whispered softly, hoping he wouldn't wake the rangers up where they were conked out on the floor. He sat down beside her in the middle of the floor, crossing his legs in a meditative position.

"I just don't think I'm really worth all the trouble." she admitted softly. He didn't really know if it was even meant for his ears or if it was an admission to herself, but he moved himself in front of her so that she was staring at him instead of the wall across from her. Their toes met in the middle, lightly brushing each other.

"Hey, Fran, look at me." He said it seriously, more seriously than Fran was used to hearing him speak, though she'd never really seen him in ranger mode all that often. Looking at him, all she could see was the outline of him with what the moon coming through the skylight could illuminate. "No trouble. There is absolutely no trouble with you. The occasional mishap, maybe, but that's just who you are. Any other way, you wouldn't be Fran. Who else would be willing to man all of JKP while we ran out on no notice at all? Who do you think kept our minds off of what we were fighting on a daily basis? They need you, Fran, and so do I. There couldn't be anyone better around, no matter whether or not you believe me." He took her hands and gently rubbed circles around her palms with his thumbs. "Okay?"

"Okay." She replied meekly enough that he didn't think she was fully convinced.

His hand came up and curved around the back of her neck. Fran sat frozen where she was. He kissed her. Just once first, short. Then again, sweet and soft and gentle but reassuring and calm and strong, just like him. She could feel her face heating up and became embarrassed, even though she knew it was too dark for him to see her blush...not that he was really looking at her face. She let him kiss her though, and eventually he slowed down to an almost lazy pace, as though he had all the time in the world and then some. She was pretty sure time control wasn't part of his abilities as a Pai Zhou master though.

Of course she'd noticed that RJ was cute, except not cute. He was different. He was strong. She could tell every time he tossed a pizza, but he was so kind and adorable. Fran just hadn't imagined being in this situation with him. Each breath on her skin, drag of his lips across hers seemed to scream a lot of things like "I need you", "You are worth every bith", and even some a tentative "I love you."

She didn't really know how to do this. The list of boys Fran had kissed was pretty short, but none of them were like this either. So she sat there and let him pepper kisses on her lips, until he kissed her nose once and let go. Her lips felt cold once his were gone, and she realized that somewhere along the way, she had closed her eyes just to feel him kissing her. A bubble of excitement wanted to spill out, but she also knew it was the middle of the night. And a large part of her enjoyed the quiet perhaps because for once, she couldn't think of a single thing to say. Maybe she didn't know where to start, or maybe it felt better not to disturb the quiet of their breaths falling together. RJ guided her down to the floor so that they were lying side by side. She curled into the crook of his neck, laying her hand delicately on his chest. For once, Fran couldn't find a thing to say.

So they found themselves curled into each other the next morning, sleeping as comfortably as ever.


End file.
